Sunday, June 26, 2016

ARC Review: Signs of Attraction by Laura Brown

Signs of Attraction is the first book that I have read from Laura Brown and I loved that it was something so different from everything else out there. I have not come across many books where the main characters have hearing loss or are deaf, so I was really looking forward to experiencing that here. I think that the author did a great job in tackling the subject, and I think a lot of that came from her own experience with hearing loss which she shared with her readers here.

Carli is a senior working towards becoming a teacher. She has struggled with hearing loss since she was a child and when one of her new professors is impossible for her to understand, Reed steps in and helps her. Because of the way she was raised, Carli has never received the help she needed and Reed shows her that not only is she not broken, but that there are many others out there just like her with a lot of solutions available to them. But when an incident causes a huge setback on all the progress she has made, Carli finds herself struggling more than ever. Reed has a past that changed everything for him, and as strong as his feelings are for Carli he finds himself wondering if it would be better to walk away than risk his heart yet again.

I liked Carli and Reed. I loved that they had such an easy connection right from the start. They were a part of a small community that not many others would understand, and Carli had never been shown that she wasn't damaged goods until Reed came into her life. He introduced her to so much, and I really liked seeing her learn how to adapt and live a normal life. She was just getting by before, same as with Reed, but when they met each other everything changed and they both started living. Reed had his own struggles that he was working to overcome, and I really loved Carli for him as well. These two were so sweet together, and they had a ton of chemistry. I enjoyed their texting and that they spent time getting to know one another rather than just jumping right in. While their feelings did develop rather fast, it felt natural and was believable and they took their time to start acting on those feelings.

I also really loved Reed's group of friends and how they welcomed Carli. They were protective of him and wary of her after everything that he had been through, but once they started getting to know Carli, things clicked and she fit right in. They were all amazing, and I was so glad that they were such a big part of Carli and Reed's story. This book was emotional and well written, and I really loved these two together. I will say that at times things were a bit slow, but I think part of that is because this story is more about the texts between them and Carli learning ASL as well as how to cope with some huge changes in her life. There was at times not a lot of dialogue or interaction between the characters with more of this story being internal, and I think that it slowed the pace of the story down. I still really enjoyed it and I am glad that I didn't let that stop me from continuing this one. I look forward to reading more from Laura Brown in the future, and if you are looking for a different romance story this is definitely one worth checking out.